Humane Officer Training

​​​​​​​​This 40-hour course is required for anyone appointed to serve as a humane officer in Wisconsin. Humane officers must complete the training within one​ year of being appointed. It is also open to anyone who is interested. Law enforcement officers may apply the training to their 24​​-hour recer​tification training requirement.​

Who Should Attend

All humane officers appointed within the past year and not yet certified must attend. Law enforcement officers responsible for investigating animal cruelty complaints should attend. Anyone will want to attend who is interested in learning a systematic approach to animal cruelty investigations and/or becoming a humane officer.

Course Cont​ent

  • Role of the animal investigator
  • Rules of evidence
  • Rules of search and seizure
  • Civil liability
  • Wisconsin law
  • Facility standards
  • Evaluation of cruelty
  • Nutrition
  • Body conditioning and scoring
  • Pet shop investigations
  • Photography and sketching
  • Crime scene procedure and collection of evidence 
  • Interview and interrogation
  • Report writing
  • Courtroom testimony
  • Crisis intervention/officer safety

Instructors

Instructors are veterinarians, attorneys, and law officers with years of experience in investigating animal cases. You will also get hands-on experience in the barns at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Fees & Certificatio​n

Cost of the course is $575 payable with registration. The course fee includes all materials and class time. It does not include meals, lodging, and testing or certification fees. 

After successfully completing the course and passing the written examination, you will be eligible for certification by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection as a humane officer. There is a testing fee of $25 in addition to the tuition, a​nd if you a​pply for certification after passing the exam there is a another fee of $35.

Law enforcement officers can apply the course toward their 24-hour re-certification training requirement.

Lodging

Guests can make reservations by calling the hotel directly at (608) 244-4703 or the Hilton reservations line at (800) 445-8667. Mention the law enforcement training or group code "LET."​

Law Enforcement Training Institute

The Law Enforcement Training Institute, affiliated with the University of Missouri-Columbia, has been providing state-of-the-art professional training to criminal justice practitioners since the 1940s. In 1979, the Institute became one of the original State Certified Law Enforcement Training Academies in Missouri. Since that time, the Institute has taken a leadership role in providing basic and advanced certified academies to law enforcement officers and continuing professional education programs to a wide, multi-disciplinary spectrum of the criminal justice system.